


A spark of consciousness

by Tabata



Series: Leoverse [137]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Future, Androids, Cyborgs, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 11:15:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13546206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabata/pseuds/Tabata
Summary: Leo and Cody are cyborg prototypes and they've just escaped from the factory where they had been made. This is them dealing with their first hours of freedom.





	A spark of consciousness

**Author's Note:**

> **WARNING:** This story is an AU from the original 'verse. What happens in here has little to none correlation with what happens in Leonard Karofsky-Hummel VS The world or Broken Heart Syndrome. The characters involved are (mostly) the same, but situations and relationships between them may be completely different.  
>  In this particular verse Leo, Cody (and later Adam) are dolls, some sort of androids/cyborgs created in factories, that are used by humans as butlers, maids, sex toys and basically everything else. Leo and Cody, free of a particular chip that makes dolls obedient, escape the factory and run into Blaine, who's actually out to capture them and bring them back. Things don't go that way, tho, as a particular pheromon secreted by the two makes Blaine attracted to them.
> 
> Written for: Lande di Fandom's COW-T 8

The first thing that hits him is that dolls are everywhere in the real world. Leo was under the impression that it was logical to see so many of them in the factory – since they are made there and then dispatched all over the country – but that once you stepped out of it, the world was still a human world and dolls were confined to the privacy of people's home, where they would be maids and butlers and sex toys. But it's not like that. The use of dolls is more extensive than he thought. They do all kind of things in place of human beings and you can't turn around without seeing them.

It's a doll that checks their tickets when they hop on the purple line to get to the city. It's another doll that welcomes them when they get off and another one that advertises sales in some nearby store when they come out of the subway. There are dolls controlling traffic and giving information. They're clerks in the shops and employees in the offices. And of course they're rented by the hour in brothels too. 

The models available are way more than those Leo knows, which means there must be more factories because he never saw some of those faces in the one they were in. The vast majority of them is beautiful – especially those that deal with costumers – but a big number of them is of a different kind, and possibly not even cyborgs like them, but full-on androids. They're just unrefined, rough bodies with a vague face without details and, more often than not, not even the right number of limbs, but still with enough internal memory and programming to do things like cleaning streets or repairing stuff.

And none of them, not even the more human-like, has any idea of what it is. They lack that spark of consciousness that's in Leo and Cody's eyes. It's not something people would see, of course. Dolls like them are programmed since the beginning of their life cycle – which is the word that is used. It's never simply _life_ \- to act accordingly to some behavioral patterns that depend only marginally on their choices.  
But Leo and Cody can see past those mechanics because they were trapped in them too before they learned about the soul-chip.

Another thing that's not at all as Leo had imagined is the size of the city. He knew the factory was big – he had heard lots of people saying it almost looked like a little town – and he thought the world outside was going to be more or less like that. But the city is just a tiny fraction of the world and yet is already so much bigger than the factory. He should be able to realize distances and sizes, and he is because he can access any data he wants as long as it's been uploaded on the net, but knowing things and seeing them with his own eyes are two different things. He is not _emotionally_ prepared for the endless maze of streets, all the people, the vehicles, the sounds and voices that surround them the moment they get to the city.

The very fact that he has emotions is not prepared to feel is what makes him different, and Cody as well. Cody, especially, was made to _feel_ and at the moment is scared to death and yet excited by everything he sees. But he's still wearing the robe he was given at the factory – a tiny white thing that hardly qualifies as any piece of cloth and struggle to cover his ass – and people are starting to notice him.

They are both prototypes, and therefore unique, but whereas Leo's peculiarities and innovations are invisible to the eye and he can look like _one of the other dolls_ if you don't remember all the models by heart, Cody's preciousness is in the uniqueness of his look. He is smaller than any other doll and he was genetically engineered to be way less gendered. Physically he is a boy, but he doesn't look like one. His skin is pale and delicate-looking, his face is extremely beautiful and everywhere he's soft and plump like a peach.

Cody was designed with the very specific purpose of being an harmless, whimpering sex toy that is as human as possible, without being legally considered one, so you could do to him everything you couldn't do to a real person. He's made to draw attention on himself, and Leo needs to fix that.

“Come on, we need to find you some clothes,” he says, holding his hand.

They left the factory in the middle of the night, leaving a wake of people either wounded or dead. Leo knows the managers won't alert the police, because that would mean explaining why a home-doll like Leo can completely bypass Asimov's Laws, and revealing that they were ready to definitely cross the line of morals by creating a sentient being with the sole purpose of torturing and raping him. Still, that doesn't mean they are not looking for them. They have a head start, but they need to find a place to stay and someone to help them as soon as possible.

Leo drags Cody in an alley and leaves him next to a series of bins. He looks around to make sure they are alone and that there are no windows nor camera on the walls of the buildings around them. Then, he goes back to Cody who's looking nervously at his naked feet. “Cody, listen to me,” Leo says sweetly, leaning forward to place a kiss on his head. “I know it's unpleasant but—“

“You want me to lure one of them,” Cody says.

He doesn't look happy and Leo feels guilty about that, as every time he says or does something that makes Cody uncomfortable in some way. “It's quicker if you do it,” he explains, combing back his hair. Cody nods without looking up. “But don't worry, I won't let anyone touch you.”

That seems to reassure him. Truth be told, nobody has ever touched Cody again since Leo killed his tester, so Cody knows Leo is not lying. “I will do it,” he agrees. “Go hide yourself.”

Cody turns around, knowing that Leo will simply disappear, as he's programmed to be both stealthy and lethal, and walks up to the entrance of the alley. The street is not that busy but there are people enough for him to find the right prey. 

About five minutes later the perfect guy comes out from the subway. He's in his late thirties, five o'clock shadow, a bit on the bulky side. Some kind of builder or worker. He's got short green hair and eyes of two different colors. He walks fast, but not in a straight pattern, he's drunk or he wants to get drunk soon.

Cody steps out of the shadows, one hand grabbing the hem of his robe, pulling it up just enough to make you wonder. The city air feels very cold on his naked bits, but he pretends it's not so. He doesn't need to call him, the man almost seems to feel him. He looks over and smirks at him. “Are you lost, little thing?”

“I think so, sir.”

The man smirks even more. “You shouldn't be out here all alone,” he says, coming closer. He rests one hand against the wall and leans over him. Cody lets him, even if he smells very bad. “Where are you coming from?”

“I have to take the train, sir,” Cody goes on, ignoring the question. He doesn't have any information to give him and he doesn't want to give the wrong one. Besides, this will help him look stupid, which is what the man believes already. “Can you tell me where the train station is?”

“You know what? I can take you there myself,” the man says. “If you're nice enough to me.”

Cody hates him from the bottom of his heart. He hates those words, how he's looking at him – as if he was allowed to do to him everything he wants just because he's three times bigger than him and he's alone – and he hates that this disgusting creature who is lacking empathy and compassion and respect is allowed to be called human when he is not. But he pushes through this and puts a soft smile on his lips. “Of course, sir,” he says. “I will do whatever you want.”

Then he steps back in the shadow, luring him in the alley with the most innocent face. The man grins lewdly at him, and Cody smiles back until he doesn't anymore. Leo drops on the man from above and breaks his neck. It takes a few seconds, no more, and the body falls on the ground without a sound. Cody takes a step back and shivers. It's a weird and complicated thing the one he's feeling right now. This man was bad – or at least he acted bad – and he wanted to do things to him, so he deserved some kind of punishment. But he doesn't like when Leo kills people. It never feels _right_ after, not even when Cody had wanted someone dead before.

“He was a little too big for his clothes to fit you,” Leo is saying as he takes off the man shirt. “But we can work something out. Put this on.”

Leo gives him the red-and-black checkered shirt and he wears it. He's way too long for him and his hands just disappear into the sleeves, so he starts rolling them up his arms. Leo gets back to him with the man's belt and buckles it around his waist, turning the shirt into a dress. “There you go,” he says with a smile. “Now it's better.”

“What are we going to do now?” Cody asks.

“He had money,” Leo answers, showing him a little plastic card. “We're going to eat something and then find a place to stay tonight. We need to lay low for a while.”

He's about to say something else, but he suddenly winces and starts pressing his hand against the left side of his head. “Leo, are you alright?”

Leo doesn't answer. Cody's voice sounds distant and confused, even his sight is coming and going. Cody's chip was easy to take out, it was purposely not that much connected. But when he tried to remove his, something went wrong and his brain started to go crazy on him. He managed to disconnect it partially, but he had to put it back in. And now it's faulty and it acts out every now and then, which would be fine enough if his brain didn't feel like it's burning from the inside.

He falls on the ground, holding his head in his hands. “It's the chip again, isn't it?” Cody asks, wrapping him in his arms and dragging him as best as he can until he can rest against the wall.

“I'll be alright,” Leo whispers, his eyes closed because he can't control his muscles enough to open them. “I just need to rest. Come here.”

Cody knows he's lying now, but he knows he's doing it for him, because he doesn't want him to worry. He sits down next to him and cradles Leo's head in his lap. “We are going to find someone who can fix me,” Leo goes on in a whisper.

Cody suddenly wonders if they did the right thing running away from the only place they've ever known without knowing if they are actually fit to survive out here in the real world. What if they really are not? What if they're made only to be taken care of and used? What if this chip, without which they think they can be human, is the only thing that defines them because it makes them what they are?

But he lies too, because he doesn't want Leo to worry. 

“Yes, of course.”


End file.
